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Dublin’s newest blood donation facility, Stanford Blood Center, opened earlier this fall with a commitment to community engagement and saving lives — one donation at a time.
SBC regards itself as an independent and community blood center. The new Dublin location in Fallon Plaza will offer medical aid to regional hospitals such as Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, the Palo Alto VA and others.
“We’re thrilled to open a location in the Tri-Valley, bringing convenience and a sense of community to our East Bay blood donors,” SBC Executive Director Harpreet Sandhu said in a press statement. “This location provides an easy way for Tri-Valley community members to make consistent donations of this life-saving gift at a day and time that works for them, while bringing a more diverse pool of blood types to our reserves.”
Community leaders appeared at the facility’s ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 26 to help welcome the new center to Dublin. Dublin Mayor Melissa Hernandez, Dublin Vice Mayor Michael McCorriston and Councilmember Jean Josey were present. SBC leadership and Pleasanton Vice Mayor Jack Balch were also in attendance.
SBC has previously held various mobile blood drives that saw great success, which was a big factor in opening a permanent location in Dublin, representatives said.
“We’ve had many mobile blood drives in the Dublin and Tri-Valley area, and they’ve always done really well. So we thought that we could open up a fixed site center so that people would have a place to come to at any time and not have to wait for local blood drives to come to the area,” said Julie Peachey, SBC public relations officer.
Peachy explained how important a blood center facility is to a community, and why folks should donate if they are able to. Josey and McCorriston were among those to give blood during the grand-opening event.
“Donating blood saves lives,” Peachey said. “Even just one donor can save several lives with one blood donation. They can pull platelets out of the blood, plasma and of course the red cells.”
“It’s especially important during this time of year. We see a lot of blood donation appointments get canceled because people are getting sick. When we are able to call our local community to come out and donate, it helps bolster the blood supply. This time of year, especially, tends to be pretty tough,” Peachey.
Located at 3738 Fallon Road in Dublin, the building is accessible from Interstate 580 and BART. The new SBC center offers 1,000 square feet of donation space and four blood donation chairs.
“When patients in hospitals need blood, it’s especially important to have extra. Sometimes we have unforeseen circumstances where we need blood immediately,” continued Peachy.
SBC says that while it’s extremely helpful for all blood types to donate, those with universal blood are particularly encouraged to give.
“It’s especially important for people who have university universal blood type, like type O. We’re pretty much calling on them all the time because no matter what your blood type is, you can receive O-negative blood,” Peachey said. “Often if there is an accident and there isn’t any time to type a patient, you can use type O blood because it is universal. Just to have blood on the shelves so that it’s ready to go even for scheduled surgeries or unforeseen use saves so many lives.”
SBC operates other blood donation facilities in Menlo Park, Mountain View and Campbell. To find out more about Dublin’s SBC, visit https://stanfordbloodcenter.org.